Call for Abstracts
Call for abstracts out now!
The Digital Games Research Association is “An international association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena.”1 Its aim is to stimulate high-quality research on games, and to “promote collaboration and dissemination of work by its members.” Aside from the main conference, countries may organise “chapters” nationally. For The Netherlands, this was organised in 2024 at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.2 In November 2025 it will be hosted at the Utrecht University.
Different futures for the study of games and play are brewing in the present. Through participation and research we, as scholars, are actively shaping the future of the field within The Netherlands and beyond. At this symposium we explore possible directions for game and play research as an interdisciplinary field. In line with the focus of the international DiGRA conference this year, this means taking a step back and identifying (and/or questioning) important and sustainable thematic foci and approaches, as well as blind spots in the research, teaching, and practice within game research communities in the low countries.3 In doing so we may also contend with a bigger question, discussed at length in a special issue of Eludamos: given the grim socio-political and environmental developments of the last decade, (how) can games and play, or the ludification of culture more generally help “facilitate mobilization for better futures”?4
This symposium especially encourages contributions from early career researchers (advanced master students, PhD fellows, post-docs, and independent scholars). We welcome your submissions even if game studies is not your primary field of research. The symposium offers a platform not just for sharing knowledge, but also for sharing pedagogical experience, artistic research, with plenty of time to forge connections to peers and potential collaborators.
Host: Utrecht University
Venue: the ‘Playground,’ Vening Meineszgebouw C, Princetonlaan 6, Utrecht
Conference Date: 18 November 2025
Deadline for submissions (abstracts, panel proposals, and projects):
1 August 2025
Presentation formats (abstracts, panel proposals, and projects)
The symposium changes the traditional format slightly by creating more space for open conversation and potential collaboration. The morning slots will be filled with ‘brief burst’ presentations of 10 minutes, in which scholars are encouraged to immediately get to the heart of the matter.
In your presentation, please make sure that you
- focus on one phenomenon, topic, or case study (if applicable)
- make a bold, argumentative claim
- return to the title, reflecting on how your research shapes and is shaped by futures of game research.
We encourage both work in progress, as well as talks based on recently published material. Since you will not have to submit a full paper to present at this symposium, no submissions will be archived or published, and your research remains your own.
In the afternoon we accept panel conversations (3-6 panelists), and we will also use a ludic fishbowl format to generate interesting, open-ended conversation. The first are organized ahead of time; so send us your topic and the speakers involved. The second will be organized spontaneously over lunch.
Finally, do you have a project that you want to showcase at the symposium? Get in touch. Whether you have developed playful prototypes, manifestos, zines, or research tools, we want to give you a spotlight at this symposium.
Evening program, parallel program
The hosting committee in Utrecht will curate a parallel program of VR experiences, student-made games, and game artifacts to explore in separate rooms of the ‘Playground’ while the symposium is ongoing. After the program finishes we will stay at the venue. Those interested may stick around for pizza, drinks, games and good conversation.
Travel and Accommodation
We suggest that you only consider participating in this symposium if it is feasible for you to attend without flying. Utrecht is easily accessible by bus and train from Belgium, Germany, London, and even Copenhagen. If you are coming from far away and require overnight accommodation, reach out to l.h.opdebeke@uu.nl and we’ll see if there are guest bedrooms and sofas available in our local network where you can stay.
Crossover events
Dutch Digra has purposefully been scheduled to take place in the same week as the GALA symposium (Games and Learning Alliance), which makes it the ‘Week of the Game’ in Utrecht. Moreover, starting on Thursday and running throughout the weekend, the Overkill Festival in Enschede celebrates art house video games, interactive art and films as tools to engage in social challenges. Attendees might want to prolong their stay in Utrecht (or the Netherlands) to take part in any or all of these events.
- GALA November 19-21. Full paper submission 2 July.
- The Overkill Festival 20-23 November.
Topics for research
We welcome submissions from various disciplines and approaches. If you’re looking for a playful way to gain inspiration you can roll the dice in our official tabletop RPP: “Research Papers, Please!” (graphic design by Keerthi Sridharan Vaidehi). For a more traditional list of possible topics have a look at the following prompts.
Possible Topics
- The shifting of priorities and paradigms in game research.
- Diversity, equality, and inclusion in game design, communities, and industries.
- Sustainability of game production and consumption.
- Social impact of games and their communities’ potential for change.
- Ethical considerations for economic, social, and technological transitions in game industries (e.g. big data, black boxes, loot boxes, User Generated Content, crunch culture).
- The role of AI in game industries.
- (Political-) economic changes in game design, communities, and industries.
- Accessibility to games, gaming platforms, and communities.
- The ludification of public infrastructures (e.g. education, smart cities, social credit).
- Games as artifacts and theoretical objects.
- The expanding agency of game communities in participatory culture.
- Future imaginaries and technodeterminism in game culture’s history.
- Changes in the public perception of games through professionalization and platformization (e.g. E-sports. Streaming).
- Technological innovations in interface design (e.g. VR, smart watches, mobile gaming).
- Game culture both challenging and perpetuating imperialist, neoliberal, and sexist ideologies.
- The role of gamification and game technologies in conflict.
- The politics and practicalities of game preservation and archiving.
Submission Guidelines:
Submitting abstracts, panels, and projects can be done via this form. The submission guidelines can be found in the form.
For any questions, please contact the symposium organizers at l.h.opdebeke@uu.nl and m.c.benschop@uu.nl
We look forward to your contributions,
The Dutch DiGRA 2025 organising committee
Laura op de Beke, Marijn Benschop, René Glas, Laurence Herfs, Dennis Jansen, Aengus Schulte, Sarah Trottier, Keerthi Sridharan Vaidehi, Jasper van Vught, Stefan Werning.
Utrecht University has a long history of game research. For an overview, read this post.
- https://digra.org/ ↩︎
- https://www.eur.nl/en/eshcc/events/dutch-digra-2024-symposium-diversity-sustainability-and-social-well-being-game-design-industry-2024-11-21 ↩︎
- https://digraconference2025.org/calls-call-for-papers ↩︎
- Pötzsch, Holger, and Kristine Jørgensen. 2023. “Editorial: Futures.” Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture 14 (1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7324.
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